A photograph of President Trump huddling in the Oval Office with Cabinet secretaries and his closest advisers moments after Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is being dubbed “historic,” “iconic” and “incredible.”
The black-and-white photo was snapped by chief White House photographer Daniel Torok at 10:15 p.m., about an hour and half after suspect Cole Allen allegedly tried to storm into the packed Washington Hilton ballroom with a shotgun as the president, first lady, vice president and top-ranking Cabinet members were dining alongside thousands of media members and dignitaries.
Trump is seen seated at the Resolute Desk as he peers into a phone held out by an unidentified Secret Service agent.
The president is surrounded by top administration officials, who, like Trump, are all still in their tuxedos and fixated on the phone screen.
White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino; Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin; Vice President JD Vance; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche; Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller; and War Secretary Pete Hegseth are among those behind the commander-in-chief.
Patrick Witty, the chief photo editor at the White House, explained the men were “watching surveillance footage of the shooter” when the “historic photo” was taken.
Trump would post security footage from the Washington Hilton and an image of the shirtless suspect detained by authorities on Truth Social minutes later.
The behind-the-scenes image, first shared by Scavino on Sunday night, quickly went viral on social media.
“Monitoring the situation,” Katie Miller, a podcast host and wife of the deputy chief of staff, captioned the photo on X.
“This Iconic photo will be in history books 100 years from now!” MAGA influencerVince Langman said of the photo.
“1. Bada– photo. 2. The memes are going to be incredible,” Outkick founder Clay Travis quipped
Another social media user described the image as “a modern day ‘Rockwell.’”
“Hang it in the Smithsonian,” William Wolfe, the head of the Center for Baptist Leadership, demanded.
The White House did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
